IGNUDI, STEFANO. - Theologian and Dante scholar of the Conventual Minors, b. in Genova on 28 Feb. 1865, d. in Roma on 2 June 1945. Having entered the Order in 1886, he took a degree in theology at the Ateneo di Propaganda Fide (1891) and was ordained priest in the same year; he taught literature and theology at Colle Val d'Elsa and Genova (1891–95), thereafter spending all the rest of his life in Roma. An esteemed disciple of Poletto, he replaced him for several years in the chair of Dante studies, publishing numerous Dante notes and studies in various newspapers and journals. He was very active in the Order and in the dicasteries of the Roman Curia. As rector of the Collegio Serafico, he guided Fr. Massimiliano M. Kolbe (v.) in founding the “Milizia dell'Immacolata” (v. Roma 1917).
Among his numerous writings (about one hundred published, often anonymously, and approximately as many unpublished), the following should be mentioned: Il canto dantesco di Francesca da Iemini (Prato 1898); Il sistema politico di Dante (ivi 1899–1901); Il canto di Dante a r. Francesco (ivi 1926); Commento alla Divina Commedia (3 vols., Padova 1948–50). The value of I.’s Dante conception and interpretations may be judged from examination of this last commentary, theological-spiritual and, in this respect, likewise original.